Installing Apps leaves Universal "NO" icon in Applications folder?

I switched from Windows to my first Mac about 2 months ago. Several questions but I'll start with this one:

Whenever I install a new application I follow the directions to drag the app icon onto the Applications folder. When I do that (and then open up the applications folder), instead of having the correct icon, I have an icon that looks like a couple sheets of paper with a gray NO symbol across them (you know, the circle with a line through it).

I can usually fix this by pulling that icon (app) out of the Apps folder onto the desktop (where it magically changes back to its correct icon) and then dragging it back into the Apps folder.

Is this normal? Doesn't seem correct. Thank you in advance for helping this noob out.

You're seeing the "NO" sign icon because you haven't approved the application to run. OS X has a protection mechanism that will flag a newly install application as such. The first time you run the application, it will warn you that the application was downloaded from the Internet and ask you if it's OK to run. At that point, the app is flagged as "clean" and the icon changes to normal.

So, in short, install your application by dragging it to the Applications folder. Then double-click it to run. Answer the prompt and you needn't worry about it any further.

Liquid and computers don't mix. It might seem simple, but we see an incredible amount of people post here about spills. Keep drinks and other liquids away from your expensive electronics!

Actually, I do approve the applications to run. And I would have thought that doing so would change the icon. Unfortunately, because I'm sitting at work now (away from my beloved iMac baby at home) I can't verify the usual course of my actions.

I thought that I was "approving" the app first, but it's possible that I'm not doing that.

Honestly though, I'm pretty sure that even after approving the app, the icon is still not changing to its correct state. I will follow up on this later when I get back to my mac.

OK, I'm only speaking from my experience, which may differ slightly from your own. Sometimes browsers will also give you a warning. So, you get one when you download the file, then you get a second after you copy it to the correct location.

Liquid and computers don't mix. It might seem simple, but we see an incredible amount of people post here about spills. Keep drinks and other liquids away from your expensive electronics!

this happens to me, it is nothing to worry about. I believe this is a dock/finder issue. Log off and log back in to fix it. You should only worry when you click the application and it says "This application not supported" or something like that. If there are no side effects there shouldnt be any problems.

This is a bug in the Finder (not refreshing itself after you add the program to a folder). I'm not sure why Apple hasn't fixed it yet, but usually just closing the folder and re-opening it (thus forcing an update) will fix the issue.

What do you mean by "approving" the app to run, Keidal? Just going through the installation process? That is not authorizing the app. Authorizing requires double clicking on the app to open it, and then a box pops up telling you that this is an app downloaded from the internet or something like that, asking if you want to continue. You click "Continue" and then it will ask for your administrator password. THEN the app is approved for use.

Not sure about the Finder issue, as I have never had any problems installing any apps.

Just downloaded 'mame os x'
Dragged icon to app folder, got broken app icon
Ejected disc image, opened app folder, still broken icon
Ran program - Got NO warning, but it worked perfectly...
Still have no icon in app folder but mame is working fine.

Just downloaded 'mame os x'
Dragged icon to app folder, got broken app icon
Ejected disc image, opened app folder, still broken icon
Ran program - Got NO warning, but it worked perfectly...
Still have no icon in app folder but mame is working fine.

Will update you if / when icon eventually appears correctly

I have no patience lol

I did what was described as a solution in a post above.
I dragged the 'no icon' icon, onto the desktop, *POOF* Correct icon appeared.
Dragged new icon back into apps folder...

Thanks to all for your advice. It's true that logging off generally fixes the problem. Still seems inelegant; I expected more from my shiny new iMac. But I still love it.

Keith
:-)

It's odd. If I click on Applications in the dock, the icon shows as broken.
If I view Apps in Finder, the icon is fine.
And if I log out and then log in, the icon fixes itself. But I want all users to have a nice experience and I know that not all application installs suffer from this problem.

This is my app, if there is anything proactive that I can do (embed the icon somewhere, tweak a config file) please let me know so I can fix the app before we ship it.

This is the default behavior of OS X and as has been indicated, there are various methods for the update to happen and to get fixed. Since every application goes through the same sequence, I think most users have figured out what it's about and move on..

I doubt there is anything you can programatically do to fix this short of Apple doing changes to Finder..